This invention relates generally to leg protection devices for animals and, more particularly, to an apparatus for protecting the elbows of an animal""s front legs.
An animal""s front leg elbows are mostly bone and, as such, do not have very much muscle or tissue surrounding them for protection. Thus, animals frequently develop calluses, sores, or wounds on their front leg elbows. Unless bandaged or otherwise covered, these maladies are very slow to heal. In fact, calluses or sores may continually come back due to lying on hard surfaces.
Various bandages and protective garments have been proposed in the prior art for covering the legs of animals such as dogs. Although assumably effective in use, the existing leg protection devices are not reliably held in position or are not convenient to secure to an animal.
Therefore, it is desirable to have an animal leg protection apparatus that cannot be easily displaced from its proper position once secured to an animal. Further, it is desirable to have an animal leg protection apparatus that may be securely positioned after first wrapping its leg wraps around an animal""s elbows.
A leg protection apparatus for an animal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a pair of elbow wraps. Each elbow wrap is a sheet of a flexible material that may be wrapped around the elbow of an animal""s front leg and fastened thereabout with hook and loop fasteners. An elastic strap is fixedly attached to each leg wrap and includes an end with a fastener. The apparatus also includes a padded base member that is formed to rest upon the back and shoulders of the animal. A pair of brackets are mounted atop this base member. The base member is tethered to a conventional pet collar which fits around an animal""s neckxe2x80x94holding the base member in a relatively fixed position. Once a leg wrap has been wrapped around the elbow of an animal""s front leg, the elastic strap may be stretched upwardly until the strap fastener engages a corresponding bracket on the base member. Once both straps are releasably secured to the base member, the leg wraps will stay in position without regard to any activity of the animal.
Therefore, a general object of this invention is to provide a leg protection apparatus for animals that will cover calluses or sores on the elbows of an animal""s front legs.
Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, which will remain properly positioned once secured to an animal.
Still another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, which cannot be easily pulled off by the animal.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, that is flexible and comfortable to an animal.
A further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus, as aforesaid, that is durable.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein is set forth by way of illustration and example, embodiments of this invention.